23 November 2008

Het komt eigenlijk nooit voor, dat je zonder tuinverlichting 's avonds de tuin kunt zien vanuit de verlichte woonkamer. De sneeuw zorgt voor een klein wondertje. Het is heel licht buiten en zo mooi. Normaal gaan hier 's avonds heel on-nederlands de gordijnen dicht. Vanavond hou ik ze nog maar even open. Heb zonet een foto gemaakt. Ongelooflijk dat deze in het donker is genomen.
It hardly ever happens that you can look into your garden at night from the lighted living room. Tonight we can. It has been snowing all day and the garden looks like magic. Usually we close our curtains in the evening which is not very Dutch. Most people here like to keep their curtains or blinds open. Don't know why. It's just a habit I think. A couple of minutes ago I took this picture. Hardly to believe that I took it in the dark.

22 November 2008

Gisteren toen ik vanuit Ikea naar mijn auto liep werd ik al overvallen door een fikse hagel- en sneeuwbui. Brrr. Koud en glibberig. En natuurlijk kwam de wind van de verkeerde kant en werd ik met ijs en al mijn auto ingeblazen. Autostoel was meteen doorweekt. Gelukkig had ik mijn regenjas aan, anders was het nattenbroekenwerk geweest.
Vanmorgen lag onze tuin er zo bij. Mooi gezicht, die eerste sneeuw.Het was zo donker, dat de foto zwart/wit lijkt. Het begint alweer te dooien. Was dus net op tijd met mijn camera.
Yesterday when I walked from Ikea to my car I was hit by a hail- and snowstorm. Brr it was cold and slippery. And of course the wind blew from the wrong direction and pushed me together with snow and ice into my car. I was lucky to wear my raincoat for the car seat was soaked within seconds. This morning our garden looked liked this. So peaceful this new snow. But it is already thawing. Was just in time with my camera. It was so dark that the picture looks like a black and white one. And then to think of this picture that I took only last wednesday!

19 November 2008

Last night my sewing machine stopped. The screen turned black and it would not do anything whatever I tried. Today I took it to the machine hospital and it turned out that print board (have no idea whether this is the right word, but can't find a better word) died. This usually happens within three months or never. Unfortunately it was the first. I have had the machine for almost three months now. I hope I'll get it back before the week end. I was doing some embroidery for charity work and I would like to finish it. I am glad I have the little JEM to sew so I was able to do something today. First I wanted to make some more Civil War Diary quilt blocks. But then I remembered that I ever started the SBS(Sylvia's Bridal Sampler) I took out the blocks and was surprised by what I did some time ago. Today I added a few more blocks. The first two pictures show what I did last year. I can't remember if I made some blocks this year. But the blocks look so bright and attractive now that I decided to make more blocks untill I have about 60 and then make a quilt. I will only do the paper piece blocks. The third pic shows what I did today. Some time ago I started two blocks and finished them today and then I made another two. It was quite fun after all that time.

14 November 2008

Ha, het is na middernacht, dus ik mag mijn blokken showen. Heb het toch nog gered er twee te maken.So, it's after midnight the 14th and I am allowed to show my Civil War blocks. I had little time but still managed to make two.

13 November 2008

Gisteravond de (bijna) laatste hand gelegd aan het winterquiltje. De stofjes hiervoor heb in een paar weken geleden in Krefeld gekocht, op de terugweg na ons quilt week end. Een stukje van de bies aan de onderkant en in de hoek is nog los omdat ik nog een label moet maken. Dat naai ik normaal altijd gelijk me de bies vast, zodat het moeilijk te verwijderen is. Maar ik heb nog geen label. Ik wil nu met de borduurmachine labels gaan maken, maar dat vereist nog enige oefening. Eerder deed ik het altijd met een tekenprogramma en printte het dan op de stof. Maar ik weet zeker dat het quiltje voor Kerstmis helemaal af is. Het kostte enige moeite om de hoeken goed te krijgen door al die strepen, maar het is gelukt. De paneeltjes heb ik met de hand gequilt, de rest met de machine gemeanderd.Last night I (almost) finished the winter quilt. I bought the material on our way back from the week end in Germany. So it took me only 2 1/2 week to make it. A record for me!I still have to fix the binding at the bottom of the quilt because I also sew part of the label together with the binding. And I haven't made a label yet. But I'm sure it will be finished before Christmas. I had to put some effort in getting the corners right because of the stripes. But I think I did well there. I quilted the small panels by hand and stippled the other parts.

We also learned how to make a threedimensional piece. The green ribbon shows it.Only the knot is sewn to the basic material.

In the afternoon we got to the real work. This picture shows what is ever going to be a bag.I need to add a few more small flowers and 1 or 2 of the bigger flowers will be turned in threedimensional flowers.

03 November 2008

Unfortunately I was not able to finish my Christmas quilt yet. Many unexpected things came up during the week end. So I give quilting another try in the afternoon. But I thought that now instead of a new quilt, I could show some of my old day's cross stitch work.It seems ages ago since I stitched these. And in fact it is. Oh my, am I growing old! This first picture shows a Waratah. It is the national flower of New South Wales, Australia. When we lived there the flower was rather rare and grew only in specific places. Now I understand is has been cultivated and grows in many parks and gardens. It is an amazing plant and the flowers are beautiful. Never saw that beauty before. When we left Australia my neighbor and good friend Pam gave me the cross stitch kit. I stitched it about 1979-1980 I think. I'm not sure anymore. What I remember is that there were over 20 different shades of red in it. Thank God my eyes were very good those days. I did it without glasses! I don't think I could do it now, even with glasses.

Also in those years I did these cross stitch pictures. Not much to tell about them. I just liked them. I did many more. Didn't have them framed and I don't know where I put them. Probably in a box in the attic. I also made smaller ones like these and most of them I gave away as presents.

01 November 2008

On our way back from our week end in Northern Germany we visited a beautiful quiltshop in Krefeld, Quilt&Co, with so many great fabrics and a very friendly and helpful staff. We all fell in love with it immediately. No one left without buying something. I bought these lovely fabrics for a Christmas quilt. They were six panels and matching material. This week I have been very busy sewing a top of three of the panels. Yesterday I sandwiched it and today and tomorrow I'm going to quilt and finish it (I hope). Now I'll show you one of the corners. Doesn't it look neat? Op de terugweg van ons week end in Duitsland hebben we een bezoekje gebracht aan een quiltwinkel in Krefeld, Quilt&Co met een grote keuze aan prachtige stoffen. Natuurlijk was ik niet van plan om iets te kopen, maar het is zo moeilijk om weerstand te bieden, dus ik beken....., heb toch maar weer wat gekocht. Ik wilde kerststofjes om de Ricky Tims nog een keer te maken. Stofjes waren al uitgezocht, toen ik een kerstquilt zag hangen. Die vond ik zo vrolijk, dat ik daarvoor heb gekozen. De helft van de panels zijn nu al in een quilt verwerkt. Ik heb deze week hard zitten werken. De top is ook al gesandwiched en in het week end hoop ik hem te quilten.